Occupational fatigue and mental health complaints among 8-hour shift workers of petrochemical industries in Iran

BACKGROUND: Shift working is unavoidable in many industries with continual material processing such as petrochemical plants. So, the adverse effects of shift working on workers should be seriously considered. OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study evaluated occupational fatigue and mental health complaints and their relationship in rotating 8-hour shift workers. METHOD: In this study, 287 shift workers participated. The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to evaluate the level of fatigue and mental health, respectively. RESULT: A relatively high prevalence of mental health complaints (particularly social dysfunction) and fatigue (especially general fatigue) were found among the study population. In general, 43.4% of participants reported a mental health problem. A moderate correlation was found between fatigue and mental health (r = 0.58). The stepwise regression model revealed that fatigue was significantly related only to "anxiety and insomnia" and "severe depression". CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the 8 h shift workers in studied areas are exposed to a considerable risk of mental health and fatigue. So, improving the ergonomics and health aspects of the workplace is recommended to reduce related risk factors.